When will Prince Harry stop punishing British taxpayers?

Wherever you go in the world, there are always two things that are never cheap: lobsters and lawyers. The British taxpayer has learned this painful reality as it picks up a bill of more than half a million pounds for defending the government’s case against Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex has brought a case against the Home Office over its removal of automatic high-level police protection for him and his family when they are in Britain.

So far, £180,000 has been paid in fees to leading barristers to defend the Home Office case. Another £320,000 has gone to the government’s own legal department, comprising the Attorney General, the Solicitor General and Treasury Counsel and all their staff.

Court costs and other bits of pink string and sealing wax have taken the total bill well over £500,000, all paid for by the hard-pressed British taxpayer.

This has caused commentators and even lawyers themselves to ask whether if it is right and proper for a senior member of the Royal Family to sue His Majesty’s government, something that has never happened before but which Prince Harry seems determined to continue, no matter the heavy costs involved.